Xiamen Airlines makes inaugural Beijing-KK flight

KOTA KINABALU: Chinese tourist arrivals in Sabah will be boosted as Xiamen Airlines has opened the state to the northern China market with its inaugural direct flight from Beijing to Kota Kinabalu.

The airline made Kota Kinabalu its first international destination from Beijing and expects more tourists from the city and northern China to travel to Sabah, in addition to those from the southern and central parts of the country.

“We expect the new route to contribute to the growing demand of Chinese and expatriate holiday-makers to Sabah,” said Ou Dong Ying, the airlines’ vice president for its Beijing operations.

Xiamen Airlines has been operating direct flights from Fuzhou in central China to Kota Kinabalu since Jan 2017, with an average 80% load on their Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

State Tourism, Culture and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun arrived together with Malaysian ambassador to China Datuk Zainuddin Yahya on the inaugural flight from Beijing.

“Tourists from north China can now fly in directly without having to transit,” he said on arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

The Sabah Tourism Board also gave a traditional welcome to tourists who got off the plane.

“There will be a strong exchange of visitors that will foster good people-to-people relations between Sabah and China,” he said, adding that about 40 chartered flights from China are expected over the next three months.

Sabah had 3.65 million Chinese visitors last year, a record increase of 430,000 visitors or more than 14% compared to 2016. The value of tourism receipts was estimated as RM7.7bil.

Masidi said with such a high number of tourist arrivals, the state cabinet had asked several companies to build more hotels to cater to the growing needs of tourists.

Source: The Star